Gratitude

It's good to pause, momentarily, and thank God (or whomever you think is responsible) for the good things in your life. I've got a loving, caring, beautiful wife, who is one of the two great cooks in my life (the other, of course, being Mom). They're pretty much tied for top spot in my mind. Mom is generous with her recipies - at least with us. The other day, she e-mailed me a recipie for chicken enchiladas that we'd had when we were in Idaho for Christmas. Reeta immediately made it with some turkey from the freezer, but the recipie was actually pretty big - so we made two pans - one to eat that night, and the other to eat tonight. It's sitting in the fridge right now, waiting to be called into action at a moment's notice. I'm thankful for enchiladas.

I've got a great, wonderful, smart little girl, who picks up on everything I do. For example, this morning I was playing a couple of quick rounds of UT2k4, when I let slip a "dammit". Claire, who was nearby, asked what that meant. I quickly explained that it was a bad word. "Is that the F word?" she asked? To her, everything is the F-word. "No, honey. It's not as bad as the F word. Which you shall never use. Except perhaps under the most dire of circumstances, which at this point are so dire and so unfathomable as to defy description, so you will never use the F word." Which summed that up. The other day, at the behest of a friend, she cut the hair off some of her Barbies. Now we have a couple of Annie Lennox dolls. She knew what she did was wrong, so that she hid the dolls, and when we were looking for something later that evening, she wouldn't let me look in the little dollhouse she keeps them in. I'm grateful for a smart child, even if her friend isn't so high on my list right now, though ;-).

I have physically survived yet another year of law school. Just one semester yet to go. I'm grateful to have survived, not so sure I'm grateful for impending graduation. I'm also thankful that I've had such great professors who have helped prepare me for the life ahead.

We have health and a roof over our heads (Thanks to Reeta managing apartments). We have food to eat, clean water, and friends. I'm grateful for my friends. In particular, I'm grateful for those people who have supported me and befriended me throughout my law school career. A special mention goes to "The Firm". A very special mention goes to my blogparents - Mellow Drama, who has helped me with template formatting, comments, writing, etc., and The Menagerie, who has helped me by being a great example, and a wonderful blogger besides. I'm grateful for all my friends.

I'm grateful for the country we live in. How many times do we hear "Only in America"?

But everyone's grateful for their friends, and their family. When do we get to hear the unique stuff? Okay. I'm grateful that this year I finally wore Reeta down enough that she allowed me to get a 'Cube. I'm also grateful for my GBA:SP. And Pokémon. And FFT:A. Both of them have been a ton of fun. And I'm exceedingly grateful that Naruto the animé series hasn't been licensed yet. I'm grateful for Netflix, and if the post is running today, I'll have three new discs sitting in my box - RahXephon, Samurai Jack, and The Day After Tomorrow (nothing says New Year's like the end of the world, baby!) I'm grateful for eBay. And for the Star Wars figures my Mom bought us for Christmas. I haven't opened them yet, but it's only a matter of time. And I'm thankful for the MPAA and the RIAA. After all, suing the end user means one thing: job security for the lawyers.

Happy New Year!